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Ichika Kusatani
Ichika Uozumi (魚住イチカ, Uozumi Ichika, née Kusatani (草谷, Kusatani)) is a kunoichi and medical-nin of Konohagakure's Kusatani and Uozumi Clan. Upon graduating from the Academy, Ichika was placed on Team Botan and struggled with gaining her teammates' trust, causing her to reconsider being a shinobi. However, through finding her talents and sheer determination, Ichika made a name for herself as Ichika of the Hidden Release (隠れ遁のイチカ', 'Kakureton no Ichika, English TV: Hidden Style Ichika) through the use of her Hidden Release kekkei genkai during the Invasion of Pain and the Fourth Shinobi World War. Background Born to Hideo Kusatani and Ori Kusatani a little over a year after the Nine-Tails attacked , Ichika is the first member of the Kusatani clan to have a parent that was not originally a member. She was born somewhat prematurely and this is thought to have affected her height later on in her childhood. Ichika’s father, Hideo, died while on a mission during Ori’s pregnancy. He also gave Ichika her name before he died. As a small child, Ichika was raised by her mother and the two would often visit Hideo’s gravesite. Though Ori was a kind and loving mother who meant well, Ichika noted that she was sometimes distant and this caused her to feel lonely at times. Ori also disapproved at first of Ichika becoming a ninja, as her husband had died in the career and she was scared for her daughter. During her childhood, Ichika became friends with Kotone Shibasaki, and they bonded over the fact that neither of them had fathers. Though they grew apart as genin, they started to spend more time together in Part II and by the time of the epilogue, they were very close. Ichika begged her mother to enroll her in the Academy, and after much effort convincing her, Ori finally enrolled her. Personality In general, Ichika is a cheerful girl who is energetic and tomboyish, as she ends sentences with “Sa!” (さ!, English TV: “Alright!”) when she is excited, a particle usually only used by boys. She can be very enthusiastic. Along with many other things, this verbal tic is a trait that she inherited from her father. Ichika can also be mischievous, especially in Part I, as she sometimes uses her Hidden Release to turn invisible and play pranks on others. This slowly stops as she gets older, though it is shown that she still occasionally messes with her husband by using it. She can be very naïve at times, as shown when she didn’t understand at first what Jiraiya meant by “research,” and this can cause her to be too trusting of others and be seen as younger than she is. Despite this, she is shown to be fairly intelligent. She also has a very hard time understanding whether people are telling the truth or not. This has been shown to have improved over the years, especially now that she has kids. Ichika is normally a bit passive, but she will become fiercely protective of her friends and family members if they are in danger. Though she does not enjoy fighting, she will do so without any hesitation to protect her loved ones. She is not usually one to get scared easily, though she tended to worry a lot at the beginning of Part II. She is also a sort of daredevil, often seen during her childhood swinging from trees and running on rooftops, earning her the nickname “'Grasshopper'” (飛蝗, Batta), though only family members tend to call her this now. Ichika can hold grudges for a long time, but she has improved at this as she has grown. After meeting her father for the first time during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ichika mentally matured and took on a serious attitude for the rest of the war, determined to win in order to make her parents proud and save the world. Ichika can be very shy around her teammate Kaisei, as it became obvious during Part II that he was attracted to her. She began to have a crush on him after he saved her during the Invasion of Pain. Her shyness decreased after she admitted that she had feelings for him, though two years after the war, they were still a bit bashful around each other. Shortly after the events of The Last: Naruto the Movie, Ichika and Kaisei got married and eventually had twins, a son named Watari and a daughter named Kotani. After the war ended, her personality returned to normal and she is shown to be a playful mother, though she has matured and wants her children to become great shinobi one day. While she doesn’t let her kids get away with things, as seen when she scolded Watari and Kotani for playing pranks on their classmates by turning invisible, she was shown to laugh about it behind their backs. Ichika loves her family deeply and enjoys spending lots of time with them, though in her children’s early years it was difficult due to Kaisei being in ANBU. Later on, though, it became easier as he returned to the regular forces. While he is away more than she’d like him to be sometimes, she and the twins will often send him letters while he’s gone. She loves to help her children train and tell them stories about the past. Appearance Ichika is a little smaller than other girls her age. She has lightly tanned skin and pink eyes - a strong resemblance to her mother - though she also has unruly green hair with bangs that resemble a leaf which she keeps short until she reaches adulthood. In Part I, Ichika wore a yellow, long-sleeved pullover sweater over a light blue t-shirt. Along with this, she wore a pink pleated skirt, brown cropped leggings, and pink shinobi sandals. She also wore a standard kunai holder, albeit on her left leg, and the standard Konoha forehead protector. On the back of her sweater, she had the Kusatani clan symbol. In Part II, her face had thinned out as she had grown, and her colour scheme had become more muted. Ichika wore a dusky pink long-sleeved sweater with her clan symbol on the back over a high-collared, light blue tank top. She wore light pink mid-length shorts, brown cropped leggings, and black calf-length shinobi sandals. She continued to wear a kunai holder on her left leg and donned the standard Konoha forehead protector, now on a black cloth. She also began to wear a medical pouch. Later on, she wore the uniform of the Allied Shinobi Forces made up of a Konoha flak jacket, a black long-sleeved shirt, black pants, and black shinobi sandals. She also wore the Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector on black cloth. In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Ichika, who had become a young adult, kept a similar colour scheme to her previous outfit. She wore a short, high-collared, light pink sleeveless pullover dress that was belted on the sides with light blue pieces of cloth. Underneath, she wore a dusky pink shirt with mid-length sleeves. Ichika also wore a yellow sash tied in the back, brown mid-length shorts, and black calf-length shinobi sandals. Additionally, she wears a kunai holder on her left leg, a medical pouch, and the standard Konoha forehead protector, again on black cloth. In adulthood, Ichika is noted to bear a striking resemblance to her mother, Ori. She has grown her hair out long and it has straightened quite a lot, though she keeps her bangs the same. Her face has further thinned and she has grown to an average height, though she is a bit on the shorter side. She wears a dusky pink shirt with mid-length sleeves and yellow cuffs and a simple light blue bracelet on each of her wrists, along with her mother’s two black hair clips on one of her bangs. Ichika also wears a brown, calf-length skirt that is tied with a light blue bow on the left side of the front and greyish closed-toed shinobi sandals. She no longer wears a forehead protector. Abilities As a genin, because of her small stature and inexperience, Ichika was often seen as a burden to her teammates who were both older and more battle-oriented than she was. She was not shown to be particularly talented, no matter how hard she trained. Eventually, she realized that she was training in the wrong areas, and after identifying this, her skills improved immensely. Once she unlocked her kekkei genkai, Ichika became a formidable opponent, and she became far more confident in her abilities. As a member of the Kusatani clan, she inherited the Hidden Release and above-average levels of speed and agility. Sensory Perception and Chakra Concealment Though Ichika cannot use the same level of Hidden Release that her father could, she can conceal her own chakra to a certain extent. However, dōjutsu such as the Byakugan can still see it to a point, though it is not as easy to see as someone else’s chakra and will appear heavily muted. Kekkei Genkai Ichika inherited the Hidden Release from her father Hideo. The Hidden Release '(隠れ遁, ''Kakureton; Viz ''“Hidden Style”) is an advanced nature kekkei genkai unique to the Kusatani clan that can be used to render oneself invisible, along with other abilities, granting the user an advantage over those whose fighting styles focus more on brute strength. This ability therefore can render the user invulnerable against a large amount of taijutsu. She is also able to turn at least one other person invisible along with her by making physical contact with them, which is extremely useful in missions involving very high amounts of stealth. However, being what is referred to in the Kusatani clan as a “Mix” (someone who does not have parents that were both born into the clan), Ichika is physically unable to utilize the Hidden Release to the extent and with the same amount of control as someone who is “Pure” (someone who has parents that were both born into the clan). Regardless, she has been noted to have skills with the technique that rival many past Pures of the clan. Ninjutsu Nature Transformation Ichika has demonstrated fair use of nature transformation, having the ability to use Wind Release techniques such as Wind Release: Gale Palm and Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. She can also perform the Typhoon Water Vortex Technique by herself through combining Wind and Water Release. Medical Ninjutsu Though not technically classified as a medical-nin until the events of ''The Last: Naruto the Movie, Ichika began to learn some medical ninjutsu from Tsunade as a way to cope with her mother’s death over the time-skip. She is shown to be proficient in it and, after the Fourth Shinobi World War, decided to specialize in it. However, her skills pale in comparison to those of ninja such as Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura Haruno. Her abilities improved immensely during Part II and they proved to be beneficial in the War. Because of her ability to practice medical ninjutsu, she was switched from the Third Division to the Logistical Support and Medical Division almost immediately after the War started. In the epilogue, it is shown that she has continued her studies even further and has become a doctor at the Konoha Hospital. Summoning Technique In the latter half of Part I, Ichika signed a Summoning Contract with a hawk named Hatori, who is normally only used as a messenger and is never used in battle. However, she has been used to both track and scout ahead on missions. Taijutsu Due to her small size, Ichika is not a frequent user of taijutsu and instead relies mostly on speed and agility. She is shown to have very good reflexes, as seen when she was able to essentially tackle Kaisei out of the way of an attack by Pakura’s Scorch Release at the last second in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Intelligence Though somewhat naïve, Ichika is shown to be fairly intelligent. She is talented at memorisation and is shown to be able to predict her opponents’ next moves while in battle. Despite this, she is also shown to be a bit impulsive at times and occasionally finds it hard to think under pressure. Chakra Control A member of the Katō clan through her mother Ori, Ichika has demonstrated very good chakra control. Because of this, she is able to utilize her Hidden Release much better than many past mixes of the Kusatani clan. Other Skills Teamwork Though she found it hard to get along with her teammates at the beginning of Part I as there was both an age gap and that they tended to think of her as a little kid, Ichika eventually formed very close bonds with her teammates and thinks of them as family. Team Botan has been told by many people, even enemies, that their teamwork is very good, though it is nowhere near that of the Ino-Shika-Chō formations. Stats Part I See also: Plot of Naruto Chūnin Exams : Main article: Chūnin Exam Arc Even though his team was still fairly new, Botan entered Team 1 into the Chūnin Exams that were being held in Konoha. Ichika eagerly agreed to participate, though she was later nervous about whether or not she and her teammates would be able to work together well enough to pass. For the first stage of the exams, all participating genin were given a written test with ten questions that were too difficult for a standard genin to be able to answer. Ichika answered four of the questions by herself, and was able to fill out three more when the genin beside her was caught cheating and his paper was momentarily exposed. When the tenth question was presented, neither Ichika or her teammates choose to leave, and Team 1 ultimately passes. For the second stage of the exams, Team 1 entered the Forest of Death with a heaven scroll and was tasked with obtaining an earth scroll and making it to the centre of the forest before five days have passed. Team 1 initially spent all of their time avoiding confrontation, though Ichika grew impatient and told Hakaku and Kaisei that they wouldn’t be able to find the other scroll if they kept hiding. Though Kaisei admitted this was true, Hakaku disagreed, preferring to wait for another team to come to them. Ichika and Kaisei then left their hiding place, knowing that Hakaku would follow them however begrudgingly it may have been, and they ran into Masao’s team, also from Konoha. After a long fight, Team 1 emerged victorious, though Ichika sustained a fracture to her leg. Kaisei carried her and the three made their way to the centre building without anymore conflict. Because too many genin teams ended up passing the second stage, a round of randomly selected one-on-one matches was held where only the victor was able to continue on. Ichika received medical treatment and was unable to participate. However, her teammates were able to, and Kaisei and Hakaku were placed against each other. Struggling with whom to cheer for, Ichika instead cheered for both of them alternately, earning her strange looks from some of the other genin. Eventually, both of them forfeited, and the match was over. While watching the rest of the matches, Ichika saw Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka fight and was surprised at Naruto’s determination, causing her to be even more determined to become a great ninja. She also witnessed the brutal treatment of Hinata Hyūga by her cousin Neji Hyūga, and was both angry and confused at this, wondering how someone could have treated their own family that way. During the one month after the second phase that the participating genin had to train and recuperate, Ichika’s leg healed and though she and the rest of her team were not participating, they were seen training with their sensei. Along with her teammates, sensei, and mother, Ichika watched the finals. When the invasion orchestrated by Sunagakure and Otogakure began, Ichika was rendered unconscious by Kabuto’s genjutsu along with almost everyone else. Konoha Crush : Main article: Invasion of Konoha Arc Ichika could be seen alongside her mother and the other villagers at the Third Hokage’s funeral, mourning his death. Interlude At some point in the time-skip, Ori was sent on a mission with several other jōnin for the purpose of investigating suspected past hideouts of the Akatsuki. However, they never made it farther than a day’s journey from Konoha as the group is suddenly attacked by a couple of rogue ninja. Ori is killed when she jumped in front of a sword that was meant for one of her comrades, while everyone else was able to get out of the attack with only minor injuries. One of the men on her team is able to send a note that night with Ori’s summon, Taka, who had accompanied them on the mission, to the Hokage’s office. Tsunade receives the note and immediately sends a couple of ANBU to go and meet them while charging Shizune with informing Ichika. Ichika noticed something is wrong when she was looking at the stars from their balcony and saw several ANBU taking off from the Hokage’s building. At that moment, Shizune arrived at the house and knocked on the door, with Ichika opening it. The words that Shizune said to her were muffled, with Ichika having a look of shock on her face. She was seen falling on her knees in the doorway and crying. She then became extremely depressed for quite a while afterwards. Sometime after, Ichika begged Tsunade to teach her medical ninjutsu. When asked why, she replied that she did not want what happened to her mother to happen to any of her teammates. Understanding this, Ichika was taught basic medical ninjutsu, though she did not decide to become a medical-nin. Later on, Tsunade gave Ichika a letter that Ori had written for her in case anything were to happen to her on a mission. While the exact details of the letter are unknown, it is known that it was able to break Ichika out of her depression somewhat and caused her to regain some of her old personality. In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths During the period of time in which Naruto left the village with Jiraiya to train, Konohagakure decided to host a joint Chūnin Exam along with Sunagakure. Once entering, Ichika, Hakaku, and Kaisei were all sent into different rooms to take the first phase of the exams, which was a written test. In the same room as Kiba, Tenten, and Sakura, Ichika listened as Shikamaru Nara explained on a monitor that everyone only needs to answer one question on the test, but that the combined score with their teammates would determine if they pass or fail as they needed 100 points to pass. During the test, Ichika considered using her Hidden Release to turn invisible and sneak into another room, but realized that all of the exits are sealed shut by the examiners. Ultimately, Neji was able to determine the correct way for each group to perfectly score by sending a series of vibrations through the wall. Ichika and the rest of the participants were able to understand what he was doing and answered their respective questions. When the second question was presented, asking which teammate would be sacrificed if a decoy was required for a situation, and said teammate would be disqualified from the exams. Ichika refused to answer the question, which was the correct answer, and her entire team was able to pass. After this, because too many teams passed, a race was created where only the first 30 teams to arrive would qualify for the second exam. In the end, Ichika and her team made it to Sunagakure in time and qualified for the second round of the exams. That night, as all of the participants were ready to have dinner, they began to get nervous about the overly-sweaty Burami destroying the food, and so the genin tried to stop him. As a result, Neji used the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and actually did destroy the food. Tension grew and a brawl broke out, with Ichika very nearly being crushed under an overturned table. In response, she turned herself invisible and was getting ready to throw a chair at the culprit when Fū made an appearance. Due to her optimistic demeanor, everyone eventually lost their will to fight. The next day, the second exam took place and, very similarly to the previous exams, each team was given a heaven or an earth scroll and was tasked with obtaining the missing scroll in three days’ time. Then, they were required to bring the scrolls to the building in the centre of the Demon Desert. On the third day of the exam, Team Botan was given a heaven scroll again. Ichika summoned Hatori and tasked her with scouting ahead for opposing teams, and she came back with word that a team from Sunagakure was coming toward them quickly. Team 1 stood their ground and engaged in a battle with the team. The team members mostly used taijutsu, and this proved beneficial for Team 1, especially Ichika, as she could dodge most taijutsu attacks. With Hakaku distracting them, Ichika turned invisible and started attacking from above. Kaisei managed to trap one of them, a girl, in a genjutsu, rendering her immobile and momentarily scaring the rest of her teammates. However, the other two were fully grown men and were putting up a huge fight against them, nearly getting Team 1’s scroll multiple times. One of the men managed to knock out Hakaku and this made Ichika so angry that she threw a kunai with a paper bomb on the end of it between the two men, triggering an explosion. Though they were not severely hurt and merely unconscious, Ichika decided that she was not going to leave them defenseless in the middle of the desert, giving them medical attention. When one of the men woke up, he gave Team 1 their scroll and said that since he and his teammates were defeated, they should have the scroll because they won. Kaisei initially refused, as he did not believe that this was fair, but after having the scroll forced into his hands, he accepted it. Ichika finished healing them all the best she could and, thanking the other team, fled from the scene, scared that it was a trick and that they were going to be attacked again. Later on, the team was rescued by Sunagakure proctors and brought to a building to wait out the storm before the exams resumed. After the storm passed, the second exam ended. However, due to domestic complications within Sunagakure, Gaara announced the cancellation of the third stage of the exams. Instead, detailed reports of each team were sent to their respective villages, which left the decision of promotion to the village leader. Upon returning to the village, Ichika and her teammates were all promoted to chūnin by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. Part II Kazekage Rescue Mission : Main article: Kazekage Rescue Mission '' Ichika made her first appearance in Part II when Naruto returned to the village after two and a half years after he left with Jiraiya. Naruto remarked that she had grown quite a bit and she smiles at this, though he remarked that she looked kind of sad, with Sakura explaining to him what had happened to Ori while he was gone. She was also seen chatting with Shizune in the Hokage’s office. Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission : ''Main article: Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission '' Ichika made another appearance when Team Yamato returned to Konoha from their failed retrieval of Sasuke. When she met Sai, she said that he reminded her of a very pale, more outgoing Sasuke. In return, he said that she reminded him of a shrimp, nicknaming her “'Shrimpy” (エビちゃん, Ebi-chan). Akatsuki Suppression Mission : Main article: Akatsuki Suppression Mission '' Ichika was present at Asuma Sarutobi’s funeral, mourning his loss. Three-Tails' Appearance : ''Main article: Three-Tails' Appearance '' When Ichika found out that Team 8 was being sent to locate Orochimaru’s hideout, she begged Tsunade to allow her to go with them as she was terrified that something would happen to them. Ori had gone on a similar mission, and had been killed in the process. This increased as more teams were sent out to help them out, and Ichika pleaded with Tsunade to let her go. When Tsunade refused, Ichika broke down in tears and left the office, going to a training ground and trying to release her anxiety and frustration by training. Later, Kaisei and Hakaku found her collapsed from exhaustion, and she was taken to the hospital for a day. Pain's Assault : ''Main article: Pain's Assault Arc '' Ichika was present when Naruto was informed that Jiraiya had died while investigating the leader of Akatsuki, Pain. When Naruto blames Tsunade for his master’s death, she simply stares down at the floor with a sad look on her face. She later tries to assist Sakura and Shikamaru in deciphering the clue that was left behind by Jiraiya, though they are interrupted by the invasion of Pain. Ichika manages to find Kaisei, with Hakaku being out of the village, and she turns both him and herself invisible to try and protect them for short periods of time. When Pain destroys Konoha, Ichika and the rest of the villagers are saved by Tsunade with the help of Katsuyu. Ichika and Kaisei met up with Shikamaru and Shikaku Nara along with Ino and Inoichi Yamanaka to pool their knowledge about Pain. She was seen looking disbelievingly at Shizune’s body with tears streaming down her cheeks, with Ino hugging her. While Shikaku and Inoichi go searching, Ichika stays behind with everyone else. Naruto eventually defeats Pain and, upon his return to Konoha, Ichika joins in the celebration of his victory. Five Kage Summit : ''Main article: Five Kage Summit Arc '' In Konoha, after learning about the turns of events involving Sasuke, Team Botan and the Konoha 11 decided that they had to hunt down Sasuke before his actions or death from another ninja started an all-out war between all of the countries. When Naruto returned to the village with Sakura, he insisted that he should be the one to deal with Sasuke. Ichika, among others, disagreed with this and said that he shouldn’t deal with it by himself. Regardless, Naruto again stated that he would handle Sasuke, and that he would tell them everything when the time came for it. He then walked off to Ichiraku Ramen, leaving them all with mixed emotions. Paradise Life on a Boat : ''Main article: Paradise Life on a Boat '' Ichika gathered together with Tenten, Hinata, Sakura, Ino, and Shiho and they began reminiscing on their pasts together and how they became close at the Chūnin Exams, quickly being interrupted by a drunk Tsunade accompanied by Shizune. On the other side of the restaurant, Chōji was having a “guy’s night” with his friends, and he said that it was bold for Tenten to have invited Tsunade. Everyone left that night after Tsunade suggested that they all drink their sorrows away. Video Games Ichika Kusatani is a playable character in the following video games: Trivia *''Kusatani means 'grass valley': "Kusa" (草) is the character for 'grass,' and "Tani" (谷) is the character for "valley." *''Ichika'' can be written as 'one flower' (一花). *Ichika is one of only four known characters in the Naruto ''universe to be born to parents of two different clans (the other three being Naruto Uzumaki, Shikadai Nara, and Mirai Sarutobi). *Ichika is the youngest known member of the Allied Shinobi Forces, being just under sixteen years old when the Fourth Shinobi World War began. *Ichika was named after a single flower that her parents saw amidst the destruction of Konoha when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked. *Ichika is not shown to be a good cook, although she tries very hard. Kaisei does most of the cooking. *It is unknown how premature Ichika was. *Both of Ichika and Kaisei's twins inherited Ichika's verbal tic and kekkei genkai. * According to the databook(s): ** Ichika's hobbies are stargazing, climbing trees, and pranking unsuspecting passersby by turning invisible. ** Ichika wishes to fight no one, and does not like to fight when she doesn't have to. ** Ichika's favorite foods are fish and nori, while her least favourite food is green onions. ** Ichika has completed 48 official missions in total: 22 D-rank, 15 C-rank, 9 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank. ** Ichika's favourite word is "''family" (家族, Kazoku). Quotes * (To Sakura) "My mom always used to say that stars are actually angels; our loved ones that have left this earth. She told me that if I ever needed help, I could just look up to the sky. I wonder if she is one of those stars now?" * (To Sai) "You kinda remind me of a slightly nicer version of Sasuke." * (To Kaisei) "I was a broken mess when we fell in love. You didn't care about that. You understood that while you could help heal my wounds, there would always be scars there. I still have them today. But you knew that and you ''still ''chose to love me. You pulled me out of the darkness that I was trapped in. You found me when no one else could. Thank you...I love you!" * (To Hideo)'' "Dad...I finally get to meet you. Have you been watching me? I-I made chūnin...I'm fighting a war I don't know if I can win...I've fallen in love...have I made you proud?"'' * (To Hakaku) "I'm not just a useless little kid! I ''can ''do things! I've proved that multiple times and you ''still ''keep ignoring me and treating me like I'm just an annoying brat! Well, I'm not!" Reference Ichika Kusatani is an OC/RPC for the Narutoverse created by MonsieurCrouton. Certain images are edited screenshots from the anime. ''Naruto ''and ''Naruto: Shippūden ''belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This character is still in development! Category:DRAFT